Equality Practice in Early Year Education

Parents and teachers perceptions of the effectiveness of Equality Practice for children from culturally diverse background: Examining Perception of equality practice in Early Year Education

by

Abstract

Inequalities in the preschools have negative impact on the academic performance of the early age students of diverse ethnic minorities of the UK. Moreover, racial discrimination exerts negative impression on the psychological as well as social well being of early age students (3-4 years) of the ethnic minority groups. Therefore, the educational system of the UK facilitates the Early Years Foundation Stage guideline in the preschools in order to ensure the equality practice for the early age students of ethnic minorities. This study is aimed to explore the perception of the preschool teachers as well as parents of ethnic minority groups regarding the equality practice for the early age children. For this purpose, the researcher utilized qualitative as well as quantitative research methods in the study. The intention was to highlight the facts about the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage guideline in the preschools of UK as well as to explore the impact of equality practice on the academic performance of the early age children (3-4 years) from the ethnic minority groups. Throughout the study, parents as well as preschool teachers highlight the fact that the needs and challenges of preschool children from ethnically diverse background are unique and require additional attention. Moreover, it is observed that the lack of English expertise obstructs the academic performance of these children. Therefore, the teachers need to provide equal language learning opportunities to children from ethnic minority group. However, the presence of ethnic minority children impedes learning pace of the class but the quality of the learning outcomes is high.

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS1

INTERVIEW FINDINGS (TEACHERS RESPONSES)1

ANALYSIS3

Demographics3

Equality in Class3

Ethnic Population of Class4

Racial Groups in Class4

Special needs of Children with Ethnic Minority4

Challenges of Children with English as a Second Language4

Impact of Minority Presence5

Interaction of Children across Racial and Cultural Groups6

Racism with Ethnic Minority Students7

Educational Attainment of Children from Ethnic Minority7

Success Ratio of Children from different Cultural groups8

Learning Pace of Ethnically Diverse Class8

Difference in Parental Attitude of different Cultural groups9

Equality and Fairness Standard9

Difficulties in Promoting Equality9

Impact of Early Years Foundation Stage guidance10

QUESTIONNAIRE FINDINGS (PARENTS RESPONSES)10

ANALYSIS13

Demographics13

Involvement of Parents16

Interaction of Children across Racial and Cultural Groups18

Integration of Ethnic Cultures in Class19

Children's Satisfaction with School20

Racism with ethnic Minority Children21

Equality Practice in School22

DISCUSSION OF INTERVIEWS AND QUESTIONNAIRE FINDINGS24

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION27

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF VALIDITY OF RESULTS METHODS27

REFLECTION OF AIM AND OBJECTIVES IN THE LIGHT OF RESEARCH FINDINGS28

CONCLUSION30

RECOMMENDATIONS31

APPENDIX40

TRANSCRIPTS OF PARENTS' RESPONSES40

TRANSCRIPTS OF TEACHERS' RESPONSES94

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Interview Findings (Teachers Responses)

The researcher interviewed 8 teachers of XYZ School (Pre School) in order to include the perception of pre-school teachers regarding the facilitation of equal learning opportunities to early age children (3-4 years) regardless of their diversified cultural background. The intention of the researcher to conduct interviews with the pre-school teachers was to include the first hand information from the randomly selected ...